Policy Update (29 April 2025)

Reports of the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) passback indicate the White House may seek to cut the National Science Foundation (NSF) by 55% and fire half of the agency's staff. The NSF director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, resigned last week. Panchanathan was appointed to the role in 2020 under Trump's first term in office. For more information, see "Exclusive: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy" (Science). For more science and space policy news, check out:

• What's Ahead: The Week of 21 April 2025 (AIP FYI)
• What's Happening in Space Policy 27 April – 3 May 2025 (SpacePolicyOnline)

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will vote to confirm Jared Isaacman as the next NASA Administrator on Wednesday, 30 April 2025. Mr. Isaacman submitted written follow-up testimony in response to questions following his in-person hearing two weeks ago. He received questions about the upcoming FY 2026 budget request for NASA. As Jeff Foust reported from SpaceNews, Isaacman is on the record stating “I have not reviewed or been party to any official discussions, but a ~50% reduction to NASA’s science budget does not appear to be an optimal outcome,” and “If confirmed, I will advocate for strong investment in space science — across astrophysics, planetary science, Earth science, lunar science, and heliophysics — and for securing as much funding as the government can reasonably allocate.” Isaacman also said he would support the completion of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

Congress is back in Washington, DC, after a two-week recess. The race to reconciliation is on. Speaker Mike Johnson has previously indicated he wants Congress to pass a reconciliation bill by Memorial Day. This bill will extend Trump's tax cuts from 2017, increase defense and border security spending, and make over $1 trillion in cuts to other federal programs. Most of these cuts will likely be directed towards Social Security, Medicare, and/or Medicaid, as reconciliation can be used to address mandatory spending levels. As a reminder, the reconciliation process only requires a simple majority to pass instead of the 60-vote threshold typically needed in the Senate to pass a bill into law. If Republicans can agree on the final reconciliation bill, it will pass without any support from Democrats. For more information, see "Trump needs unity among Republicans to pass his budget bill. Can he get it?" (NPR).

In case you missed it, the AAS policy team has released two more Action Alerts to urge your House representatives to sign letters in support of NSF and the Department of Energy Office of Science. Over 1,100 AAS members have sent emails in support of the NASA Science Mission Directorate! This is by far the largest turnout seen in AAS action alerts. Let's keep it up! 

AAS is also soliciting information about any canceled or suspended grants here. Please fill out our form if you have had any federal grants canceled or suspended. This information helps our advocacy on the Hill and gives us a better understanding of how our members are being impacted by recent events. 

Follow us on Bluesky (@policy.aas.org) and Twitter (@AAS_Policy) to never miss a policy update. As always, if you have questions or comments, please email [email protected] or stop by the AAS Policy and Education Office Hours.